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He added: “There were quite a few people walking by, so my mates left the rope that we used for fishing, on the floor, to try and keep people away from it until the police came and they taped off the area until the bomb squad came.

“They X-rayed it and said it was empty inside and took it with them.

“It never crossed my mind that it might explode to be honest.”

The sales assistant said he only took up the unusual hobby a year ago and says he hasn’t found anything of value so far.

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A spokesman for West Midlands Police said: “A precautionary cordon was set up but the incident was a false alarm and the army bomb disposal officers left the scene at 4.30pm after fishing out what appeared to be a piece of scrap metal.”

In 2015 an eight-year-old boy pulled out an unexploded World War II grenade after he went magnet fishing in a local canal in London.

Brando Smith from Notting Hill, was playing with his twin brother Jacopo and best friend Nour, using a strong magnet to ‘fish’ for treasure in London’s Grand Union Canal.

The Treasure Act legally obliges finders of objects which might be defined as treasure to report their find to their local coroner within 14 days.